Kindle Feature Spotlight

Similar books to The War of the Words (The World of Information Book 2)

"The Other Woman" by Sandie Jones
“The Other Woman is an absorbing thriller with a great twist. A perfect beach read.” ― Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of "The Great Alone" Pre-order today

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Richard Fernandez at his Belmont Club site writes fascinating commentary from unique points of view. This booklet is no exception. He observes that in many ways our culture and political debate, as we have moved from a real world full of physical things to a virtual world full of abstractions, has become a culture of narratives. Thus we have come to reward those who can shape the narrative favorably...until, it's proven false and then blows up the their faces. (Just as it did, after this book was published, for Ben Rhodes and Obama on foreign policy.) I think Fernandez has tied together the threads of his own thinking and those of others I've read (Nassim Taleb, Samuel Huntington, and others) that the world has turned and nothing will ever be the same. This book confirms my thinking that George Lakoff was a very naive man.

This is good, incisive, and a somewhat fresh way of looking at our current financial-political train wreck. In essence it's a class of "the map is not the territory" where the territory becomes incomprehensible and begins to suffer because the map has been mutilated for the benefit of the mapmakers.

One or two minor typos toward the end (writer getting excited or proofreader rushed?) but nothing serious.

Told in his usual allegorical style, Richard's essays can be confusing and unsettling. Artful retelling of recent (and not so recent) history quickly leads the reader to the purpose of this polemic: the Narrative. Built on lies and disinformation, this future information war, the root of today's crisis, will only succeed if we conciously reject knowledge, technology, and our own history. It's a warning for today's "low information voter"; one they aren't likely to read but whose effects are real and being felt today.The petty inconveniences of today are rapidly accelerating into the tyranny of tomorrow. I agree with Richard's conclusion that all tyrannies are destined to fail "because they rendered themselves uncompetitive". It's the failure process and how badly we will have to suffer to get to that point that has me concerned.

I can't put my finger on why Fernandez's writing is so compelling. I suspect it is a combination of his ability to juxtapose history with current interpretations of current events such that the glaring inadequacy of current interpretation is revealed. Having established credibility by defining the Narrative, he makes very modest extrapolations delivered in clear, concise prose.

Subtitled: "Understand the crisis of the early 21st century in terms of information corruption in the financial, security and political spheres". Richard is one of my favorite writers. He has written an excellent pamphlet on the topic described in the subtitle. It is well worth the read, as it made me think about issues in ways that I had not thought of them previously.

This "pamphlet" details in brief the true dilemma of our times. With the changing of the meaning of words over the entire lexicon, TRUTH becomes obsolescent and nihilism becomes transcendent. This short treatise is highly recommended!

I have enjoyed Richard's blog for yearsIt is so great to have access to his pamphlets as wellHe brings a fresh perspective to the world we live in with well informed thoughts on what may be over the horizon